Duluth Police say on Saturday afternoon Griffin and her two year old son approached a 77 year-old senior citizen at the Walmart in Hermantown, saying she had been stranded.

She offered to pay the elderly woman for a ride to her home in West Duluth.

The victim declined the money but gave the woman and her son a ride anyway to 66th Avenue West and Polk Street.

That's where police say the suspect pulled the victim out of the car, threw her on the ground and stole the car along with the woman's purse.

Police tracked Griffin and the stolen car down a short while later.

She was taken to Police Headquarters for questioning and subsequently was put in the Duluth jail to await charges.

The incident has made a lot of people angry and sparked a lot of talk in the community...

We posted a comment on our station Facebook page Monday about the incident, and it elicited many comments showing the level of outrage over the situation.

Duluth Police say they're doing everything they can to stop crimes like this from happening.

They say robberies tend to escalate around the holidays and encourage people to take precautions like putting packages in the trunk when leaving the car...always locking your vehicle both while you're away and while you're driving.

And they discourage giving strangers a ride no matter the circumstances.